ITunes Hack: Users Report Unauthorized Charges On Accounts

The Global Mail recently took an in-depth look at allegations that hackers may have infiltrated iTunes accounts. According to that investigation, there's something fishy going on at iTunes.

An Apple Support Communities thread titled "iTunes store account hacked", which currently includes 73 pages of more than 1,080 replies, details users' complaints about mysterious charges stretching all the way back to November 2010. Many of these comments are from users reporting what appear to be third-party purchases made from PayPal accounts, credit cards and gift cards linked to their iTunes accounts, as well as unexplained changes in their account information.

Here are two examples of complaints on the "iTunes store account hacked" thread:

I've been hacked twice in the last couple of days. Amount deducted from my gift card credit. Apple told me it must have been an in-app I downloaded by accident. Rubbish!!!! Not impresseed -- crimsonfox62

I was just hacked too... My account is linked to my PayPal that's linked to my checking and they literally stole all of my money in my checking account. Already sent in the support ticket, not very happy at this point. -- elitez28

According to The Global Mail Apple has yet to acknowledge or even comment on whether iTunes accounts may have been compromised, even though users have been reporting discrepancies for over a year. When The Global Mail contacted Apple, the company responded with a generic reply about security but did not address the specific concerns that had been raised.

The statement read:

Apple takes precautions to safeguard your personal information against loss, theft and misuse, as well as against unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. Apple online services such as the Apple Online Store and iTunes Store use Secure Sockets Layer encryption on all web pages where personal information is collected.

Although many of the people who have claimed they were hacked report similar experiences -- such as the types of apps purchased with the stolen funds, and similar changes to account information --The Global Mail speculates that there is just enough variation among the individual hacks to allow Apple to assert that they are not linked.

According to comments on Support Communities thread, the amount of money stolen has ranged from a few cents to $500. Some users also report that Apple refunded the charges.

Apple Insider speculates that the iTunes gift card algorithm may have been compromised and compares this problem to an earlier attack on iTunes. "In 2009, iTunes gift vouchers surfaced on Chinese websites for pennies on the dollar after hackers allegedly discovered a way to generate codes," writes Apple Insider.

In 2011, 50,000 iTunes accounts were reportedly hacked and sold through a Chinese auction site. Chinese newspaper The Global Times purchased one such account for about $5 and found that it was linked to someone's credit card in the United States.

[Hat tip The Global Mail via Cult of Mac]

Comments

[elisekasten]

10:37 PM on 02/21/2013

For what it's worth, I just lost some money (though it hasn't cleared my bank yet) the email SAID I paid iTunes, but actually I don't have (never had) an account of any kind with iTunes or Apple at all. So I think they have actually just hacked PayPal and are linking the charges to different companies. I don't have any money in my PayPal account, but it was linked to my checking account.

[Marisa Constantinides]

06:23 AM on 04/18/2012

iTunes simply alerts you of an unauthorised purchase but does not block it, as it should, when made from a new location or new machine.

Barring suggesting you change your password, no other compensation or reimbursement of funds taken from my account was offered.

My account was hacked by a child, most likely, who bought two games for children, one in Japanese, but no IP information is available to raise parent awareness or to claim a refund ia possible either

[Jason Blevins]

07:52 AM on 04/25/2012

I had a similar but strange experience with this. My account information was all changed, including addresses and billing and passwords. Then a $40 gift card was purchased (using a fake address) and the Visa card number they put was not mine... I'm rather confused by this since they weren't going after my money.

[Carolena Kostas]

12:14 PM on 04/11/2012

Forgot to clarify that Our PC died so never typed passwords on it, so can't blame any phishing keystroke monitoring on what was clearly iTunes hacking. Have no iPhone, only iPad and iPods and never entered cc details or passwords on any except that one time whilst in the istore for $ 1.99 purchase. Had hand covering typing at the time also!
Have new PC, old one no longer connected but not thrown out, so can't blame that avenue, apple-is-sacrosanct people. Full, new anti virus working well.
If our bank hadn't called to ask us if we were making all these unusual iTunes purchases, we would never have known until monthly statement/bill came, so potentially even more could have been stolen.
What can you even download from iTunes that costs $300 anyway?
What is wrong with apple that they"re not doing anything?
Surely the computers where these downloads are going can be traced? IP addresses?
Stop this fraud! Apple!
[should have said iha iHa iha iha iha iha in previous post - thanks other commenter]

[Carolena Kostas]

11:32 AM on 04/11/2012

Have just had iTunes account hacked. Credit card charged $2000! Yes that much in about 2 weeks whilst we were on holiday out of Internet connection, but as a duplicate account was created, never got any emails anyway. No record on our iTunes account of illegal purchases either.
Complex passwords due to having worked in IT, so no brute guessing to find those possible. Apple suggested we had given others our details!!!! Hahahahahahahah!
Very amusing. They did refund but said it was a one off.
Tis is clearly an ongoing and growing issue not being addresses or acknowledged by apple.
Very poor service from such a large and rich company.
Apart from one purchase on CC, all other apps and music paid for by gift cards. That purchase occurred in bondi istore. I think, from the sophistication of the hacking, it may have been an ex employee (or soon to be ex at the time).
Or the hackers are getting more organized and have identified an ideal opportunity!
No info forthcoming from apple re how to prevent future fraud or theft.
Contact me if further clarification required. I really hate apple at the mo. S

[TomInPhx]

11:39 AM on 03/11/2012

Anyone interested in truly helping make this stop should contact me at 602-253-1789, 800-863-4449 or [e-mail]. I've been reading these stories for two years now (since describing my own situation) and I can't believe it seems to be getting worse.

[Jtaug54]

05:09 AM on 03/04/2012

after changing my password i now see that the hackers have returned to my a/c and stripped it of £1.38 to leave just £0.28. guess it will be interesting to see if this goes

[Jtaug54]

02:28 PM on 03/03/2012

Last night I received an email from Apple telling me that my apple I'd had just been used to make a purchase in kingdom conquest from a device that had no previous connection and suggested that I change my password which I promptly did. To day I received two notifications of purchases of Sega products that I did not make. I hardly ever buy anything but my account was set up with a gift certificate when the IPad one came out. I sent the receipts back to Apple today and will wait to see what happens. Just letting people know that something is going on. Regards john

[NoApple]

05:58 PM on 02/22/2012

Apple Support for iTunes is getting really stupid and I am really pissed off. I notices 4 Debit Card charges averaging $32.00 on my account, that I never ever charged (and my card is only a week old). I reported the matter to my bank, the can't do anything because the charges are in pending stage.
I frantically (several times) called Apple Store Itunes, and I was referred to the Upport fast lane page website, there was no help. So I called apple main support line, told my story to an agent. He said he would send me an email with instructions to resolve my issue. When the email came it said go to apple/itune/support/cc . When I got there there was no issue category for my problem, so I entered other: When the dialogue box opened I typed "Unauthorized Debit Card Charges", Then a banner appeared, "You institution authorized the charges, dispute the charges through them". I almost punched a hole in my lap top, thank God its a Dell. In the meantime we are collecting all apple products in the house Ipad, Iphone, nano ipod, ipod, ibook and we are going to have a big Apple Burning night tonight. Too bad sumsang only makes the Galaxy II, its better than apple anyway, I will miss the iCloud, but Good ridence!!!! Oh steve why did you leave us this mess!

[phantom power]

04:23 PM on 02/13/2012

Apple doesn't care about people, just Benjamins..

[realsurfin]

12:07 PM on 02/12/2012

It us evident that if the folks that invented the Wagon had their way we would never have cars.. and one step down if we did have a car under apples tactics we would only have one car to choose from.

because they would have patented the wheel.

[Mikdow]

09:51 AM on 02/12/2012

I produce music on my computers. When itunes first became very popular, years and years ago, I put it on my computer. The app cataloged my music collection, which was entirely self-produced, and then locked me out of all of it. Apple told me not to put it on a computer that is used for music production. I uninstalled and all was well again.

I'm told this is no longer a problem, but I still stay away from anything Apple that I don't absolutely have to have (like Quicktime). It was such an egregious act on their part that I just can't support the Apple business model.

[theveggiedude]

12:49 PM on 02/12/2012

That's bonkers. I have never been locked out of my music collection, and a few tracks I produced myself. It is not normal. If it happened it was a fluke.

[Mikdow]

02:24 PM on 02/12/2012

Happened once. Never tried it again.

[NJShopGirl]

09:50 AM on 02/12/2012

I disconnected and deleted iCloud over this type of charge. A $24.99 app was downloaded and charged to my Paypal account thru iCloud.

[Robin Nelson Smith]

11:00 PM on 02/11/2012

I have complained to iTunes 3 times for charges on my account that are not mine. They gave me back the charge the 1st time but that was only $2.99. The last 2 times I was robbed they were $19.99 and $29.99 and they told me that they only refund 1 time. THEY WERE APPS THAT WERE CHARGED TO MY ACCOUNT IN CHINESE OR JAPANESE. NOT MINE OBVIOUSLY!!!!! The thing is that when you go into your account you can "re-download" previous purchases. When tried to do "re-download" the purchase to see what it was, it is not available! Meaning that is was not a real purchase!!!! They just charged me the $20 an $21 with no product given! SO TELL ME, WHO GO MY MONEY?? iTunes does not care. They say the charge was legit. I will only pay per purchase now. NO GIFT CARD AND NO CREDIT CARD IS LEFT OPEN ON MY ACCOUNT ANYMORE. SOMEONE NEEDS TO INVESTIGATE THIS FOR REAL!

[Natedc]

06:32 PM on 02/13/2012

China has your money now. Rumor is some very smart people over there figured out how to generate their own gift card codes. Apple refuses to fess up to whatever the problem is though (they may not even know, security isn't their strong suit).

[mr whiteffolks]

08:56 PM on 02/11/2012

Maybe the Bilderberg Group, Trilateral Commission and the Bohemian Club are responsible !

[mr whiteffolks]

08:52 PM on 02/11/2012

Someone hacked in and stole 29 cents from my iTunes account !